Senior living providers across the country need pandemic relief like the $70 million in direct aid in which assisted living operators will share in Michigan after bipartisan support in the state Legislature, Argentum President and CEO James Balda said. He called the support “encouraging.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed House Bill 5523 into law on Tuesday.
“For more than two years, senior living providers have incurred expenses for procuring gowns, gloves, masks and other infection prevention and control supplies, hero pay, additional staff and lost revenue due to record-low occupancy rates — losses which are long-term, compounding and unsustainable,” Balda said. “Unfortunately, these facilities have not had the same access to federal relief as other providers.”
Nationally, Argentum has worked to have the SENIOR Act considered in Congress. The act, which was introduced in the House in late January and is expected to be introduced in the Senate “soon,” the association said, would direct $10 billion in new funding to help senior living address caregiver sustainability and expansion of the senior caregiving workforce. Funding would be provided to assisted living caregivers that demonstrate significant and uncompensated COVID-related losses due to direct senior care.
Meanwhile, the effort to secure $70 million in aid for Michigan providers followed several months of legislative advocacy on the part of the Michigan Assisted Living Association and its lobbying firm, Kelley Cawthorne, Argentum said.
House Bill 5523, signed into law as part of a $1.2 billion supplemental funding bill, provides a $700-per-bed grant to eligible facilities to cover pandemic costs. Argentum said that MALA, an Argentum state partner, will be involved in the implementation of the $70 million appropriation, working with the Michigan Legislature and state regulators, subject to Whitmer’s approval.
